Parliament makes Jarre wait for the Oxygène of publicity

The European Parliament struck a blow for democracy this week – even if it meant upsetting electro-pop king Jean-Michel Jarre and his actress girlfriend Isabelle Adjani.

The Frenchman, who was in Brussels to press MEPs to back his campaign for lower VAT on compact discs, let it be known that he had a train to catch.

The economic and monetary committee, however, gave the floor first to less glamorous speakers, extolling the virtues of lower taxes for hairdressers and builders.

The man famous for hits such as Oxygène and Equinoxe got visibly impatient and rushed his speech on the issue before dashing to a Mercedes in which his exotic fiancée Adjani, star of hit film La Reine Margot, was waiting.

There is something splendidly parochial about the state-aid investigation launched last week by the European Commission’s competition department into JC Decaux, a French advertising company. The question …